Jeff Burton
No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet
Event Preview Fact Sheet
Event/Date: DIRECTV 500 – April 2, 2006
Venue: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway
NOTES:
This Week’s Race Car Martinsville Speedway … Jeff Burton will pilot chassis No. 129 from the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable, which was run last season in both Richmond races, New Hampshire in July and Martinsville in April.
Stat Facts … In 23 starts at Martinsville, Burton boasts one win, nine top-five and 12 top-10 finishes. He has not had a DNF at the track in 20 starts, dating back to 1996.
Final Four bound … Burton and his wife Kim will join executives from Cingular Wireless as guests at the NCAA Men’s Championship game Monday, April 3 in Indianapolis. Although a big fan of college basketball, Burton will have to find another team to pull for as his beloved Duke Blue Devils were knocked out by LSU in the ‘Sweet Sixteen’ round of the tournament last weekend.
Meet the Driver … On behalf of Kraft Foods, Burton will sign autographs Thursday, March 30 from 5-7 p.m. at the Salem (Va.) Civic Center as part of the Kroger Night with the Drivers. Tickets may be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at (540)343-8100 or salemciviccenter.com. All proceeds from the event will benefit the Victory Junction Gang Camp.
Meet the Driver, Part Two … Burton will sign autographs at the Cingular souvenir trailer at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, April 1 from 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. A limited number of tickets are available and can be obtained at the souvenir trailer.
Testing One, Two, Three, Testing … Following his Car of Tomorrow test at Bristol Motor Speedway on Monday, March 27, Burton tested the No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet at Richmond International Raceway March 28-29 as part of the NASCAR Busch Series test session.
Up to Speed … The DIRECTV 500 at Martinsville Speedway will be televised live Sunday, April 2 beginning at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on FOX and broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and XM Satellite Radio. Qualifying for the sixth of 36 NASCAR Cup Series events will take the green flag at 3 p.m. EST Friday, March 31 and will be telecast live on SPEED.
JEFF BURTON QUOTES:
Do you have a strong comfort level at Martinsville after so many good runs there?
“I really enjoy Martinsville. It’s a fun race track. I enjoy the challenge. It’s a difficult race track. It’s hard to get the car handling the way you want it. It’s hard to stay out of the wrecks but I really enjoy the challenge. I think it’s a throw-back kind of racing that they used to do 40 years ago. I like the fact that it is similar to the way Richard Petty had to drive and I think that’s really cool.”
The schedule lines up back-to-back half-mile races with Bristol and Martinsville but talk about how different Martinsville is from Bristol.
“We don’t even talk about Martinsville and Bristol in the same breath other than they are both half-mile tracks. They couldn’t be any more different when it comes to setting up the car - Bristol is the highest-banked track we go to and Martinsville is the lowest-banked track we go to. There is a similarity, in some ways, between the two in that you have to be patient at both tracks. When you get an opportunity to make a pass, you have to make it. Track position is very important. There is a lot of action, a lot of things going on but a totally different mindset in how you race the races. They’re both fun, both challenging, and both very easy to have bad days.”
Is Martinsville more a mental race or a physical race?
“It’s very much a mental race but very physical at the same time. People think that the faster you go, the harder it is on drivers but it’s actually the opposite. Martinsville’s a lot harder than California (Speedway). Everything gets so hot there - the brakes, the transmissions, the rear end and all that heat just transfers inside the car. Physically, it’s a very demanding race track. I think it’s the most physically demanding race track we go to. You really have to be ready for it, especially it you get a warm day. If you get a warm day there, you better be in shape.”
Talk about the start of the season for the Cingular Wireless team.
“I’m happy with the way we’ve run, I think we’ve made good decisions. This is a very strong team. We have good equipment and good people at the shop and on the road. This team can be successful. The three races we’ve run this year on downforce tracks (California Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and Atlanta Motor Speedway) were tracks that we didn’t run very well at last year. Well, actually, we ran pretty good at Atlanta but it’s the kind of track where we’ve struggled. In all three of those races this year, we’ve consistently run in the top six or seven. We’ve been a little off the fastest guys, but only just a little bit and that’s really encouraging. We know that we have to continue to improve. We know the other teams are going to improve and we have to match that for us to be where we want to be, but I’m comfortable with the start we’ve gotten off to. The couple of races that we had some trouble, we were running well in them and had problems in the closing laps. That’s heartbreaking but, nonetheless, we have gotten off to a good, solid start and that’s a big contrast to last year.”
Can you point to one or two things that have made the difference or is it a whole bunch of things?
“I think when teams run well, they have a lot of things going for them. They have good handling cars, they have good pit crews, they have good engines, they have good engineering. I don’t see a program at RCR that isn’t in better shape than it was 12 months ago - engines, engineering, aerodynamics, chassis, marketing. From top to bottom, I think there have been major improvements in every single category and that’s why we’re able to go faster. Our cars will go faster and when your cars go faster, it enables you to do things that you couldn’t do before.”
